Chapter 16
It was the day after Rei arrived at the city of Gimuru. After eating and finis.h.i.+ng the preparations for going out, Rei went to the stables.
「Gururu~!」
As Set saw Rei enter the stables, he gave a joyful cry.
「Did you sleep well last night?」
「Guru~」
Full of energy, Set seemed to say as he stretched. A smile floated on to his face as Rei scratched his head.
「I see. So then, what do you want to do today? Because there seems to be a library, I want to look around there...so do you want to stay here or do you want to come to the library with me? Well, if you come to the library with me, you'll probably have to wait outside like at the Adventurers Guild yesterday, they won't let you in.」
To Rei's words, Set came over and rubbed his head. He appealed with whole body to be brought along.
「I see.」
Smiling at Set's appearance, Rei took him out of the stables.
Because Dram told Rei during breakfast that he could take Set out of the stables, there was nothing to worry about taking Set into the main street.
The moment Set appeared on the street, in the same way as yesterday, people walking nearby took a few steps back in astonishment. However, as information from yesterday about Rei and Set had circulated to some extent, less people than Rei expected screamed and ran away. In other words, some people ran away without even seeing the necklace on Set that showed that he was a tamed or summoned monster.
Also, the name of the necklace was『Necklace of Subservient Monster』. He was told by Dram during breakfast.
「Guru~」
Seeing the reactions in the surroundings, Set gave a cry. Rei patted Set lightly and with Set following, walked in the direction of the library he had heard from the landlady during breakfast.
Walking along the main street, they pa.s.sed the front of the Adventurers Guild. Seeing an appetizing kebab store, Rei bought some to eat with Set. ...However, while Rei wasn't a big eater, because of Set, he bought 30 kebabs for several silver coins.
But, because Rei bought such a large quant.i.ty, he was judged to be a good customer. Maybe rea.s.sured by the Necklace of Subservient Monster, many people called out to him. As for the merchants, seeing the monster, they recognized that the person buying could be a customer.
As they walked along the road while eating, the building that the landlady told him about came into view. The library. However, even if it was a library, he was told that the number of books wasn't great because Gimuru was a frontier city. However, it was the only place with the knowledge that Rei needed.
「Set, wait here for me.」
「Guru~」
The same as yesterday at the Adventurers Guild, he parted from Set at the place where carriages and tamed or beasts waited and entered the library.
「Welcome. Have you come to use the library?」
As he entered the building, a voice immediately called out from the reception, Rei approached while nodding.
「Ah. Please tell me how to use it.」
The receptionist, who looked like she was in her twenties, continued while barely changing her expression.
「Using the library is 5 silver coins per day. However, as the guarantee money for damaged books is included in this, if the returned books are not damaged or dirtied, 3 silver coins will be refunded. In addition, please be warned that an additional charge from the 3 silver coins may have to be paid if the books are damaged or dirtied. If you leave without paying, a request will be put to the Adventurers Guild and the money owed given as a reward. If it is necessary to copy something, we sell 10 sheets of paper and a pen for 3 copper coins.」
Rei frowned his eyebrows slightly when if was told that 5 silver coins were necessary as a deposit, however, he paid the fee without complaining.
Back in his life on Earth, Rei was able to use libraries free of charge, in this world, books are expensive. It wasn't uncommon to buy rare books for platinum and Light gold coins.
「Yes, that's enough. Please get the librarian's signature on this doc.u.ment when you leave the library. You should have no problems if you don't damage the books. The 3 silver coins deposit can be refunded using this doc.u.ment. So then, take your time.」
Pa.s.sing a doc.u.ment in exchange for the silver coins, the receptionist gave a bow. Holding the doc.u.ment, he went to where the books were placed while wryly smiling at the differences with library he knew.
「...I see.」
Were the words that leaked from Rei's mouth as he looked inside the library.
According to Rei's senses, it was the size of several school libraries, 2m long bookshelves were lined up at regular intervals. Various books, big and small, were displayed, desks and chairs for up to four people were lined up near where the librarian's desk was.
As Rei looked around, he gave up the idea of looking for a book on his own and went to the counter. He called out to the librarian, who was a middle-aged man in his forties.
「Sorry, are you available now?」
「Yes, what would you like?」
「I'm looking for information about a man named Zepairu, is there a book related to him?」
「Zepairu, is it? Give me a minute. I've certainly read that somewhere before...」
After short time, the man opened his mouth with a smile as he remembered something.
「Ah, I think its the name of a Majin I heard somewhere.」
「...Majin? What's with the nasty name?」
Rei instinctively asked when he heard the unexpected word. The librarian man replied with a strange look.
「Hm, is it a different person? However, that's the only famous person with the name Zepairu.」
「...Is there a book written about the Majin?」
「Because it's like a myth or fairy tale, it should be on the shelf on the right, straight at the end of the corridor.」
「Is that so. Thank you very much.」
After thanking the librarian, he went to the bookshelf, took out several possibly related books and moved them to the desk.
「Now then, I wonder what I'll find.」
It was in his expectations that the information had been skewed, however, since he fused with Zepairu, he knew the knowledge himself. Determining so, he opened a book and read the page.
Zepairu. A person who is said to have existed thousands of years ago and led a group of magicians. That alone isn't too special, however, the magicians he led at the time were all eminent people in the world, it should also be noted that he was the magician who taught them.
It was a.s.sumed that the combat power of the group of magicians was enough to instantly destroy a country, because of that, he was treated as a dangerous person by many countries at the time. There was a country that tried to force them to become part of the military, but the country that tried to do that disappeared from world in a single day. Mighty magicians with might magic. That is how they came to be known as Majin.
「...」
This, Rei unintentionally stopped his words as he held his head. Although he thought that there was a time difference between his knowledge and reality, he still didn't think it would be thousands of years. According to Zepairu, only several hundred years had pa.s.sed. In actuality, it was thousands of years. Rei had a headache, the difference was nearly 10 times.
That said, because he has already come to this world, he can't do anything. Convincing himself to continue to live in this world, he returned the books to the bookshelf without reading any more about Zepairu.
Then, to stabilize his mind, he read some books about the world and some that would help adventurers.
After reading, he understood. There were 24 hours in a day and 30 days in a month. A year had 12 months, there were hardly any differences with Earth. The days of the week were Ji, Mizu, Hi, Kaze, Hikari, Yami and Mu. TLN: The days are actually the characters for earth, water, fire, wind, light, dark and nothing, but using those as days in English feels a bit weird so I've used the romanizations.
However, because clocks were a type of magic item, owners.h.i.+p of one was limited to wealthy merchants and n.o.bles. Then how did other people keep the time? A bell would sound in town every 3 hours. 6 am, 9 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm, most people would roughly know the time as the bell sounded 6 times a day.
Elsewhere, he took and read a book about the necessities of an adventurer, but what attracted Rei's interest the most was the book t.i.tled『A Beginners Guide to Dismantling Monsters』.
Though he had removed the fur of the Water Bear reasonably well, it was still sold cheaply because he was careless with the process. Since he was living as an adventurer from now on, the method to dismantling monsters was indispensable. That said, because Rei judged that it would take too much time to copy it, he spoke to the librarian.
「Sorry, are you available?」
「Yes, what would you like?」
「Can this book be bought?」
Rei asked as he held the book A Beginners Guide to Dismantling Monsters. However, the librarian had an apologetic face as he shook his head.
「I'm very sorry. This book cannot be bought or sold. It won't stop if it starts. ...Ah, however.」
He looked at the book that Rei presented while apologizing, he then looked up as if he noticed something.
「But?」
「That, I think there was an identical book at the city bookstore. I saw it about 2 weeks ago, I don't know if it is still there as there was only one copy.」
「No, thank for the information. Can you tell me the location of the bookstore?」
「Yes.」
He heard the location from the nodding librarian and hesitated on what to do next.
2 silver coins, because of the moderate amount of money he paid, he wanted to read some more books about the world. However, he also wanted to buy the book A Beginners Guide to Dismantling Monsters that the librarian saw in the bookstore. Though Rei hesitated for a while, because books in the library don't disappear, he decided to come again later. Getting the signature on the doc.u.ment, he handed it to the receptionist, received the security deposit back and left the library.
Meeting with Set, who was waiting outside the library, he went to the bookstore and bought the book for the considerable sum of 1 gold coin. After buying a change of clothes and some other items, he returned to the Dusk Wheat.